We stayed at the club for about 3 or 4 days. It was very windy for 3 of those days. We went shopping, and filled our food and water storage. We made several new friends in Chub and they all arrived safely. After one calm day, we left the net morning bound for the Yellow Banks and Allen’s Cay in the Exumas. The Yellow Banks passage was easy, and we basically had to bring in the fishing lines because we were catching so many fish and that was slowing us down so much we would never make it if we kept them in. I caught a big wahoo and nearly boated him only to have him make a spectacular jump off the stern and break the wire leader in mid flight. We also got a barracuda and a small jack, both of which we released.

The first day at Allen’s we anchored too close to the beach and to other boats so we picked it up and moved way down to the north end of the anchorage. The trouble was we were basically in a very exposed position and we rocked and rolled all night. I was up at 1:30 and again at 3:30 as large waves were knocking us all over. Then, like magic, it stopped and we woke up at 8 AM in calm winds and seas. But we took the opportunity to move to SW Allen’s Cay, a little bay which we had all to ourselves. It was very protected. I knew that we would sleep well.

Our new friends from Simon Says have this great dinghy, it’s a Bombadier jet boat. This has an inflatable and a RIB fiberglass hull with controls like a jet ski. It’s fast and dry. Randy has a GPS and a depthfinder, plus a VHF on board. We took a ride across 5 miles of open ocean to Highbourne Cay, mostly at 25 miles per hour, but Randy hit 35 mph in the calm sections along the lee of the island.

Highbourne looked like a nice place to stay, if you needed a slip. One thing I will never forget is the sharks at the fish cleaning station. They have a cleaning table at the end of their breakwater. People throw the scraps in the water. There were about 10 nurse sharks, some up to 8 feet long there eating the scraps from some delicious looking Dorado as the fishermen threw them in. At first, the sharks and their remora companions were very courteous and gentle, gliding over to inhale a scrap now and then. Then the fisherman threw in the entire cleaned carcass – the sharks boiled and fought like mad for the thing! The fight went on quite a while after it was all eaten.

The plan for the day was that Indiscipline, Simon Says, and High Cotton (all trawlers) would go to Norman’s to shelter from a possible weak cold front that could pass sometime Saturday night or Sunday. Norman’s is a very large cay with an ideal sheltered pool for anchoring out of the way of any possible storm. It has an intricate, but possible, entry. We were going to anchor out in the more exposed but accessible anchorage near the ancient wrecked drug smuggling airplane and then explore the entrance to the pool in Randy’s (of Simon Says) very well equipped dinghy. Well, this area seems OK and we decided not to move, although High Cotton did go in there. We all have two anchors out, one against today’s strong southeast winds and one against the expected swing to the northeast.

Tomorrow we will see if the front makes it this far south or not (it’s now forecast to affect only the northwest Bahamas) and go snorkeling or perhaps make our way to Wardreck Wells and the start of the Exuma Land Sea National Park.

Well, the next day dawned clear, calm and sunny. We had perhaps the best day in the Exumas so far. There is a little island off the anchorage called Gunter’s Cay. The kids claimed this as their own. At low tide it connects all the way to Wax Cay. At high tide it is an island of it’s own.

I explored the area in the dinghy with the look bucket and found that right off the kids beach was the best snorkeling area. There was a real coral reef with a steep drop off into the channel. Along this drop off was a rocky ledge and rock wall. This area was inhabited by lots of life. We saw giant Eagle rays, and many, many varieties of tropical fishes. After swimming, we went back to the beach for a rest. Karen returned to the boat to get Duncan. Amy and Heidi were building a sand castle. Then Amy looked up and saw a large shark in about a foot of water very near to us. We all scampered over for a closer look and he slowly returned to deeper waters. It was very exciting. After hearing about that, Karen was done snorkeling!

By evening, the frontal passage was beginning. There were high, towering cumulus clouds blowing in from the east and the wind was really piping up. We had set our two Danforths in a Bahamian Moor, and we felt well anchored. But the boat next to us, Calisto II, with 2 kids on board, had quite a horror tale of dragging anchor into another boat’s heavy bowsprit. There were busy setting out a 3^rd anchor. So we took out our big CQR on 100 feet of chain and about 50 feet of rope into the direction of the expected blow. It was going to go to 30 knots.

The CQR does not do much good in the heavy coral sand, at least compared to the Danforths. We were to find out just how well the Danforth’s really hold.

By dusk it was blowing 25 gusting to near 30 and the winds went to the east in such a way as we were getting an uncomfortable swell. White caps were hitting our bow and we had swung around on the current so that we were setting almost only on the 15 lb Danforth (the little one). This anchor is tied on to about 20 feet of ¼ chain and 200 feet of ½ inch rope. I let out a lot of scope, so that we would fall back and put some of the load on the other rodes. But still the little anchor was doing most of the holding.

It blew like stink all night and all the next day and that single small anchor held us just fine, with the other two mostly in reserve. We were very uncomfortable almost all the time and quite tired. With waves hitting the bow all night it was hard to sleep. The next day we spent mostly aboard, Karen and I walked Duncan twice and the kids went over to Callisto to play games. Everyone got soaked to the skin during these trips. Good thing it was warm (air and water temps both in mid 70s). We were never worried about dragging. Just uncomfortable.

Tuesday morning the winds had clocked more to the east and the anchorage was still uncomfortable. Still, the winds and seas were down a little. The forecast was Small Craft Take Caution, East winds 15 to 20, seas on the ocean 4 to 6. Normally a forecast to stay put. Still, for us, it was a "go". I wanted to get to a better anchorage at least and I knew we would be running down the lee side of all the islands.

On the way out, Karen caught and released a big barracuda, and I got Exuma Park on the radio and found out that we had a mooring assignment. That was good news. I got our friends on Simon Says on the list for the next day and talked to High Cotton who was ahead of us. The were getting rocked and rolled in "The Wide Opening" between Hawksbill Cay and Warderick Wells, with confused seas to 4 feet. We pressed on.

By the time we got down there it was very uncomfortable, but not unsafe. We had about 4 miles of pitching and rolling. The waves were coming from all directions at once. We arrived at dead low tide and had some fun picking our way around the boats and moorings – we had the very last one. Arriving at mooring 22, we picked up the pennant with no problems and all of us went right ashore after a 23 mile passage in strong winds and uncomfortable seas.

Our first evening here we climbed to Boo Boo Hill and explored the blow holes along the east coast. Boo Boo Hill has a shrine made up by passing cruisers. There are intricate carvings, conch shells, tee shirts, fenders, old driftwood. All with the name of the boat, crew, and dates of passage. We hurried back on board to make ours. I had a large sheet of plywood. It was really too big so I cut it in half by holding onto a hacksaw blade and pushing and pulling for an hour. We cruisers have nothing but time. Then we used a permanent pen to make what will be the largest sign up there. I noticed two signs from cruisers from the TWL email list who’ve been there before us and many signs from other boats we’ve met along the way.

The east coast of the island is unbelievably rugged. No place for a shipwreck. We felt like we were walking on another planet. Strong 4 foot seas were breaking and slamming into limestone cliffs. The rock was deeply undercut, with caves, small coves, and blowholes. All the rock is as jagged and sharp as the cactus and spiny plants making a harsh living along the shore.

The next day we awoke to warm sun and light winds. We passed the morning with breakfast, school and I did some repairs. Around lunch time it was low tide and time to swim over to our private sand bar beach. It was so nice I came back for Duncan and Amy. Duncan rode over on a boogie board. The three of us ran and played, then swam back for lunch.

When we shopped in Nassau we bought a frozen turkey. The idea was that it would keep in the refrigerator for a long time, help keep everything cooler, and not take up any freezer space. The day we were stuck on the boat in the Norman’s anchorage we barbecued it. It took about 3 to 4 hours on our little propane grill. But it was great to have "Thanksgiving in February". We had cranberry sauce, stuffing and all the trimmings. It has fed us two dinners and two lunches so far. Karen mixed turkey with chicken noodle soup to make a delicious turkey soup for lunch.

After lunch we went snorkeling on the nearby coral reef. The girls played on a sand island near the reef that had emerged at the low tide. The tide was now coming in, however, and the reef was being swept by a very strong tidal current. We had to swim and swim just to stay in one place. But we enjoyed it for an hour and saw too many tropical fish to name. Afterwards we all played on the beach and two other crews joined us for an hour of talking and playing. We are going to look for that low tide slack water for the next snorkeling trip.

Today and tomorrow (Friday) the weather forecast is good in Florida, windy with moderate seas here. The next weak cold front is due Monday. We are going to stay one more day and then go on to Staniel Cay Marina. We are going to try to break this pattern of two days of paradise followed by three of misery!

Day Two in Exuma Land Sea Park was passed with school and this time we learned to snorkel at slack tide low water. Randy and Billie called from Simon Says and invited us for a snorkel on the reefs at low water. We went around 1 hour before low tide and found wonderful conditions. Heidi played on the beach and Amy stayed on Indiscipline. Karen found a huge coral that we had not seen before. Diving on this was just short of wonderful. It was a large coral boulder complete with ledges, holes, hiding places, and teeming with fish. After an hour we all went to Simon Says to watch a movie and have afternoon snacks. This ran until late in the evening and we dingied back to Indiscipline way after dark.